Chapter 4 – Requirement Refinement

Thankfully, we no longer rely on the old practice of crystal-ball gazing to define an upfront “spec.” That being said, the communication and validation of requirements can still be a challenging matter.

This chapter’s three shortcuts guide your team in forming and monitoring both its requirements and the associated definition of done (DoD).

Shortcut 10: Structuring Stories provides recommendations on how teams may split their sprint-ready requirements into actionable tasks. Shortcut 11: Developing the Definition of Done offers food for thought to help the Scrum team establish and evolve the DoD. Finally, Shortcut 12: Progressive Revelations focuses on how your team can eliminate waste by conducting walkthroughs.

Shortcut 10: Structuring Stories

Breaking It Down

Task Slicing and Dicing

Consistency Is King

Shortcut 11: Developing the Definition of Done

Ambiguous Arguments

Where to Start

Multiple Levels

Constraints

Acceptance Criteria or DoD?

It’s Just Like Cooking!

Shortcut 12: Progressive Revelations

Verification and Validation

When, Where, Who

Issues and Adjustments

Be Aware of Scope Creep

Capturing the Output

Don’t Overdo It

Wrap Up

The three shortcuts in this chapter focused on a selection of tactics, tools, and tips to help your team define and evolve their requirements and definition of done. Here’s a recap of what is covered:Shortcut 10: Structuring Stories

An overview of the user story hierarchy

Approaches for breaking down sprint-ready user stories into tasks

Options for incorporating technical requirements into the sprint backlog

Shortcut 11: Developing the Definition of Done

Starting points for defining what done means

Options for generating multiple levels of done

Differentiating between the definition of done and acceptance criteria

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